Respect between Enemies – The BetanWerecat

Gundam Seed: "Descending Sword" and after. OCs with appearances by canon characters. The actions of Kira, Athrun, and the others have far reaching effects. Ah, interpersonal relationships! What joys they are. Rated T for language and off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)

Homecoming! Yes, yes! Interpersonal relationships! Very frank Grandmothers! (Ye gods! The things Maria Spotted Horse will just come right out and say!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.


The road north out of Cortez was deteriorating, a victim of the shattered regional economy. There were parts of it where it was smoother riding to have the bike than it would have been in a car. Through those sections, Kayla wove her way back and forth across her lane and the shoulder as she dodged potholes and odd rocks that had made their way onto the pavement.

She'd already been two days on this trip; a run she'd made in one long day when she'd left home going the other way thirty months ago. Both nights had been spent hidden in tiny blind canyons under stony overhangs. Where there was this much poverty, her bike was a fortune on wheels. She camped dark and cold with rock between her and every vantage point she could manage. There was no point in asking for trouble when you were a girl alone and already three months plus pregnant.

The last stop for fuel had put a pair of pickups on her tail. She hadn't bothered to count the occupants, more that two was too many and there were definitely more than two. She'd ridden four extra hours into the night to lose them. If she hadn't known a couple back roads that cut miles off the main route, she might not have. But they'd assumed she was a stranger and hadn't realized what she'd done. Even that might not have worked if the road hadn't been in such bad shape that the bike made better time on the side road than the trucks did on the main highway.

She'd spotted them again at a wayside just east of Cortez. They'd run past her in the night. At least one of the guys had noticed her but she was already on the road and going almost too fast for the conditions when she passed their camp. If they did try to follow, she'd not seen them. And she had done the short cut trick at least once more to buy herself a bigger lead as well as to get high enough to look over her back trail.

Now she was on her own home ground. Unless they were also local, she could lose them if they tried to follow her again. The cycle climbed gracefully over one last sandstone ridge, then she was heading down, into the broad valley of the Rio del Oro del Mentiroso. She could see the town in the distance although she wouldn't be going quite that far.

The Double Hawk Ranch was on the east side of the river, sparing her the need to go into Oro Mentiroso itself. Given what she'd seen on the way up, she honestly didn't want to. She remembered a thriving if small stock town. She didn't want that memory replaced by a reality as bitter as those she'd already gone by. Still, she did pause when she turned off on the East Fork Road to take a look.

From this distance, not quite a mile, things didn't look much different. Only the rather substantial pile of gravel just below the bridge was really that different. She couldn't figure out what that was all about so she dug her field glasses out of the road kit to take a better look.

Well, it still looked like a pile of gravel. But a check along the riverbank itself showed her a very long, low, rickety looking wooden structure of some sort. It was when she realized that there was water running in it that she understood what it was. She put the glasses down in blank shock. A placer chute? What idiot had built that?

Things had to be fairly serious in town for the board to approve something that nuts. Rio del Oro del Mentiroso translated from the Spanish as Liar's Gold River. The town had first been settled by gullible fools who bought shares in a non-existent gold mine that was supposed to be here. When they realized that, the would-be miners tried sifting the riverbed for the bright metal. But the river had never produced viable amounts of gold for anyone but that first con artist who'd sold the city plots.

Oh, there was some gold there. Sitting on a sand bank in the river with a gold pan and sunshade was a standard summer pastime for all the local kids. But any day that got you more than a trace of 'color' in your pan was an exceptional one. There was a small plastic pill bottle hidden in the hollow leg of her brass bed up at the ranch that held perhaps three ounces of glittering 'dust', the accumulation of a lifetime of summer days on that river.

The odd nugget turned up from time to time too. Her oldest brother, Paul, had found one. He'd had it set in a ring he wore constantly. But that ring and its gold were smeared across the moon now not far from Endymion Crater; along with the rest of Paul and his mobile armor on that day when he tried too hard to be a second Mu La Flaga.

She sighed once and turned the cycle up the road for home. The family would know the story of the placer chute, she'd ask them. One thing was clear from the size of the gravel pile. Whoever was working the placer was serious about at least trying to make it pay.

The East Fork Road hadn't been more than hard-packed gravel when she'd left and it wasn't now. But the signs of neglect and lack of money evident on all the road system so far were here too. The spring thaw had sent a lot of water over the road as always. This year, no one had come along behind the weather to patch the potholes and washes. Only the very worst of them were filled in enough to let a vehicle through. The bike was doing all right but she wondered if the school bus could even get up here any more. If not, how were the Hopewell, Jackson, Whitebird, and Kluge kids getting to school?

The twin peaks of Broken Knob and Shattered Rock loomed ever closer as she made her way steadily northwards. They weren't impressive by Rockies standards but they were big enough and they were home. She was somewhat surprised how happy she was to see them both once again. She'd missed them more than she'd known.

The San Juan Forest and Grassland ran along the east side of the road now for the next sixty-one miles. It jumped the road to run to the Oro just beyond the Kluge ranch. But up until then, the land on the west side was all private. The ranches of her life-long neighbors were laid out like beads strung along this road.

The first of them was the Rockbell place. They ran a smallish herd of purebred Normandy cattle and sold leather, meat, and diary products from their own farm store. The red and white Normandy were a rare breed and the snob appeal of that had kept the Rockbells in business for fifty years. She was relieved to see the familiar cattle still occupying the land. At least one ranch was holding its own here.

Llamas and alpacas still grazed on the Hopewell's spread. Jacobs, Shetland, and California Red sheep occupied the pastures of the Whitebird land. But they were fewer now and shared the space with what looked like Hampshires. So, the specialty wool market wouldn't support the place like it used to and they'd been forced to add a meat flock.

The name was gone at the Jackson's gate. The mailbox leaned drunkenly and the pastures were empty. There was a weather-beaten realtor's sign nailed to the uprights. Kayla wasn't surprised. They'd had a run of bad luck just before the war and hadn't been in any shape to withstand an economic collapse. The horse business ran in streaks anyway and when Jerry had bet on golden bay as the coming color for the show circuit and lost, he'd pretty much doomed the operation.

Pop had warned him not to buy his own stud but he was tired of the cost of stallion fees and sure of his choice. The stallion he bought threw the foals he wanted; he got that much right. Too bad the market wasn't interested.

But it wasn't until she pulled up alongside the Two Bird pastures that she seriously studied the flocks inside the fences. The Two Bird and Grayhawk sheep operations had been sharing genetics for three generations now, not all of those genetics belonging to sheep either. If the Two Bird flocks were thriving, the Grayhawks should be too.

The sheep in these pastures, like the ones at home, were Merino. The Merino breed boasted the finest diameter wool of all sheep, which meant it was the softest and could often be worn by people allergic to other wools. It was the basis for the top of the line of the armed service's winter underwear, it was that soft and that warm. Other wools might see demand rise and fall but the special characteristics of Merino had made it almost immune from the usual market fluctuations.

What Kayla saw reassured her. The flocks would all be down from the high country by now so this should be all of them. And there were a lot of sheep visible from the road. The dominate color was white of course since that took dye cleanly and gave clear colors in return. But the preference for naturally grown color meant there was a lot of it in these pastures too. The moorits, all the varied shades of brown and gold, were the largest group. Grays from deep charcoal to silver were the second biggest color block. The Two Birds even had some of the genetically engineered reds. But their odd bad luck with black was still with them as she didn't see any true black animals anywhere.

It didn't really matter. What counted was the health and size of the flocks. Those told her the Two Bird Ranch was doing well. And since Two Bird and Grayhawk sold in the same market, the Double Hawk should be fine as well. She leaned on a fence post, trembling slightly with relief.

She should have just called home. Then she'd have known and wouldn't have put herself through this. But if she had, there'd have been all those questions. She knew she'd never have gotten her folks off the phone without answering at least some of them. And she couldn't afford to, not when she'd have had to call from the base. No, shaky as she was right how, it had been the right decision at the time.

Kayla realized she was still leaning on the same fence post. The shakes were subsiding but they weren't vanishing. She knew why. She knew it was related to the same fear that had kept her off the phone. Only this time it wasn't the military she was afraid of. This time, she admitted to herself, it was what her family was going to say.

She was two miles from home and she still didn't know what to tell them or how to say it. 'Hi Mom, Pop. I quit Air Command because I fell in love with a ZAFT Elite pilot and we're expecting twins around April' was probably not the way to do it. Factual, fast, but real stupid. Dropping hints about moving to the Plants was just about as bright.

Damn it! Why'd Yamato have to be so f'ing right? Someone was going to get hurt here no matter what she did. This was her family damn it! They weren't people she wanted to hurt!

For the first time since she'd handed Adrian Ito her heart and accepted his in return, Kayla was right up against the no-win moment. She slowly turned and sat down, using the post as a back support now. Her heart rate was terrible and she didn't want to think of what this was doing to her blood pressure. She wanted to scream and she needed to cry. How did you make a choice like this?

She could see him, sitting on that stupid stool in the Archangel's infirmary that night. A Coordinator wearing Earth Forces blue. A sweet boy with eyes that had looked into hell and come out whole again. Kira Yamato, pilot of the Freedom and one of the wisest people she'd ever met. Was that what Charlie had seen when he'd looked at the pictures and rolled the talking bones?

"That obvious eh?" She'd sighed. "Yeah, there's commitment all right. But there's no good way to make it work."

"No, there isn't. Someone is going to be mad no matter what you decide. And no matter the choice, the other option will always sit in the back of your mind and leave you with questions for the rest of your life. All you can do is go with the one you discover you have to. It's the only way to live with the other one; ultimately knowing the one you picked was the only one you could live with." He'd told her, nightmares and survival in his own gentle violet eyes.

"But Kira, I don't know which one is the only one!" She cried. "And I can't figure out how to tell! You didn't tell me that part of it!"

"No one can tell you that, Soaring Hawk Woman." A soft, old voice said quietly. "Each person finds that answer for themselves. It is not something that anyone else can share with you or do for you. Only you will know when you have found it. Only you will see the one path that leads to a future. Your friend Kira can not answer your question, only his own."

But he could advise, couldn't he? And he had. She remembered that very clearly too.

"How the hell do you deal with this?" She asked him.

"You don't try to do it by yourself. I have my sister, Athrun, my friends and Lacus Clyne. I couldn't face this alone. Don't you try it either. Some loads are just more than one can carry by themselves."

No, that was not for how to find the answer at all. That was how to survive looking for it. Yeah, don't go doing this alone. But Adrian wasn't here. Who would help her now?

There was a small snort. "What am I, Kayla, sheep pellets?"

She jerked up sharply. That wasn't a voice in her head! Standing beside her cycle, holding the reins of her ancient Medicine Hat paint stallion's hackamore, was her Grandmother Spotted Horse. The old medicine woman looked down at her, one eyebrow lifted in disdainful question.

She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Grandmother waited patiently. She tried again but had no more success. Grandmother just shook her head.

"Charlie was right. You are messed up. First thing I'm gonna do when I meet that ZAFT boy of yours is slap his face 'round to the back of his skull! What the hell did he think he was doing? Didn't it occur to him to sit and make sure you were all right before he let you leave? Or were the two of you such complete fools you thought all you had to do was fall in love for everything to work itself out?"

"Damn it Gran! We didn't plan any of this! It just happened!" She jumped to her feet as though she'd just sat on a cactus. "One day he's the enemy and the next I want him more than anything else in the universe! It made no sense! It still makes no sense! But I do want him! He's my Coordinator! Mine!"

The ancient, sea-green eyes stared back at her. "No missy, he is not 'your Coordinator'."

"Oh yes he is." Kayla was startled by the dangerous tone in her voice.

Her Grandmother just laughed grimly. "Oh no, that's not what he is! You need to get that straight right now. Forget the issue of Natural and Coordinator, Kayla. If you chose that one, it can never be allowed to come up between you again. No, he's not your Coordinator, young lady, he's your man! Considering where you've let him go and the condition you're in, I'd say he's a functional one too."

For a moment, she didn't think about that, she just responded. "Well, yes, I should hope so! If you're gonna grab your ram outta the enemy's flock, you damn well better grab the best one! One that can't throw lambs would be pretty useless, right?"

Maria Spotted Horse threw her head back and roared with laughter. Kayla suddenly realized just what she'd said. Oh for the love of all things holy and a bunch of stuff that wasn't! Gran was going to think she'd gone around up there testing them all! She turned a brilliant red, or so she judged just by the heat in her face, and curled up in a ball balanced on her heels with her arms wrapped around her knees.

It took the old woman several minutes to recover. She'd laughed hard enough to give herself a stitch in her side. She stood there, trying to rub it out, just shaking her head at her embarrassed granddaughter.

"Oh, my, can throw lambs!" She chuckled.

"It wasn't like that!" Kayla moaned.

"Like what? Don't tell me you think I'd take you for someone idiot enough to just sample whatever came to hand?" Maria demanded. "You were raised better and smarter than that! No, I'm quite sure you only tried out the one, ah, ram! Charlie says he's one of their very pretty boys too. I think one of the big reasons Blue Cosmos hates them so is because they've chosen to breed for those delicate, large eyed looks that grab women's interest and then they turn out to be damn strong and quite virile to go with it! Face it, most girls I know would rather look at the pretty ZAFT boys than the homely mutts who run with Blue Cosmos. A fair old number wouldn't mind trying their paces long before they'd let the Cosmos dogs close either! Nothing like coming in a very late second in the sexual contest to incite a little honest hate."

"Grandmother!" She shrieked.

"What? You think just 'cause I'm older'n Charlie that I've gone blind? You know better! You've seen your Grandfather's pictures! He'd have given most of the ZAFT a run for its money in his day! He was a damn good foundation sire too!"

Good God! How could she be having this conversation with her own GRANDMOTHER of all people! 'Course she was right about Grandfather Spotted Horse being better looking than most of ZAFT, but that was beside the point! Adrian was at least as handsome and he hadn't wasted any time getting her pregnant either! Yah! What was she thinking now?

"Twins, Charlie said?"

Kayla nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment.

"Child, does he really want children?" The question was asked gently, all the banter of moments before gone now.

"Yes, desperately." She whispered. "They all died Gran. His whole family, they died on Junius Seven. All he has left is this crazy old coot of a genius of a grandfather and a mother I haven't met. He's so alone! He had an older brother he really admired and a younger sister he loved. You can tell from how he talks about him that he was close to his Pop. And now, there's no one really."

She looked up. "All through the war, he had Teammates but almost no friends. They died too fast you see. I understand that one. I had the same problem. There were two on the Team he let close to him. One died at Alaska. The other lost an eye but he came through the war. So that's what he's got. Yuri, Captain Thoms, me. I haven't told him I'm pregnant. I didn't dare. I don't think he'd have let me leave the Plants if he'd known. All his plans for the future, they involve children, a lot of children. He so wants to be a father. And I want to be the mother of those children."

"I see." The old woman held out a sinewy hand. "Well, then things will have to be taken as they come until you are sure of your path. In the mean time, your mother has dinner on the stove. It'll stretch to cover one more plate. You're the first one home. The others will be trickling in over the next few weeks until we have everyone together for Thanksgiving."

"Gran, did Charlie tell Mom or Pop about Adrian?" It was suddenly vital to know who knew what.

"Nope. First Kay did that. She figured, and I had to agree, that it would come better from us than it would from you. Howard is furious. We'll hope the boy doesn't show up in the next few days 'cause your Pop would likely shoot him dead at the moment. Janet, she's not happy about it. But she isn't in the same kind of warpaint your Pop is. Both of them blame the boy. You should just let the noise roll over you for the next week or so because you won't be able to defend him to either of them for a bit."

Kayla accepted her grandmother's hand and stood without really needing the help. It was pretty clear things were going to be unpleasant for a while. The question was how long and would the unpleasantness end or would she just have to walk out.

"Gran, he asked and I said yes. I want you to know that."

She found herself facing those sea-green eyes again. "He actually asked? Either he's damn well brought up or you had him pretty sure you'd remove something he valued if he wasn't polite."

"Well, it was the way he kissed me." Kayla admitted. "It was very clear what he wanted and that I got to chose."

The old woman swung herself lightly onto her horse and gathered the reins. "And just what did you tell him?"

"Ah, after a bunch of silly stuff about his being my Coordinator and my being his Natural you mean?"

"I suppose that would be the place. Since I wasn't there, you'll have to tell me if it is or isn't you know."

She pulled her safety helmet on and kicked the cycle's quiet engine over. "There was something about him moving his stuff in and that it was ok with me if the kids were Coordinators like him."

Maria Spotted Horse just looked down at her. "All right, now give me the punch line you're so carefully avoiding."

"I told him to get the uniform outta my way." She admitted.

The medicine woman laughed. "Oh, I see he obeyed that order!"

"Yeah," was all she said, a wide smile on her face at the memory.

They rode back to the Double Hawk Ranch in companionable silence. Kayla pulled the latch gate shut behind her grandmother so she didn't need to worry about getting the old horse to turn tightly enough to reach it. She herself just rode across the cattle guard that kept the stock inside the fence without any need for large swing gates at the road. It was a slow trip down the familiar road as she matched the pace of the weary horse.

Then the road came out of the last cut and the house was ahead of them. The large log structure sprawled against the trees below a seventy foot cliff on the very edge of Broken Knob itself. Only a few lights were on at this hour but then, with only Alys and Todd home, there wouldn't be many needed anyway. She parked the cycle in the garage and just left it. She could unload later.

Kayla suddenly ran up the steps to the door. She wanted to see her parents right now! Alys threw the door open with her twin and Grandmother Grayhawk right behind her and all of them met her on the porch. She was grabbed in her father's bear hug and her mother was holding them both. She burst into tears. Yes, she was home!